


Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est

by temporal-infidelity (gyabou)



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Klaus knows Latin, POV Outsider, and probably many other things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 05:05:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18910132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gyabou/pseuds/temporal-infidelity
Summary: One (slightly trembling) hand, the nails covered in chipped black polish, reached out, and pointed at one of the words in the sample sentence, 'Nauta in patria poenas reginae timet.' “The trick is to start with the verb,” he said. “Timet. What’s that mean?”Klaus gives a stranger an impromptu Latin tutorial.





	Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est

**Author's Note:**

> "Ipsa Scientia potestas est." ("Knowledge itself is power.")  
> \- Sir Francis Bacon

It was a cold, rainy February day and this meant Sadie had to take shelter inside the bus stop while she waited for it to arrive. It was not her favorite place to be.

For one thing, it was dirty, and it smelled. Condensation from people’s breath fogged up the plastic windows. And it was crowded with people, and she really wanted to sit down. She was still recovering from breaking her ankle a month ago, even though she’d been able to take her orthopedic boot off. She also had Latin to catch up on before she got to class, and needed every minute she had to work on it.

So when she squeezed herself inside the little shelter, she was surprised to see an open spot on the bench in the back, when so many people were standing. Without really thinking about it, she lunged for it and sat down, immediately opening her bag and taking out her Latin textbook. 

She’d barely opened it to the right page and started reading the lesson when she was overcome with the sensation that she was being watched. She looked up and it was then that she realized why the spot had been open.

The person sitting next to her looked like hell. His curly hair was greasy and snarled. The eyeliner surrounding his eyes was smudged, making him look half dead, and his beard was rough and patchy. He was shivering inside of a strange patchwork fur-trimmed coat, and he was wearing the most skin-tight leather pants she’d ever seen on a man. 

He also smelled like pot. And he was staring at her.

Well, shit.

For a moment, Sadie thought about getting up. But wouldn’t it be weird and rude? She was already sitting. And she really didn’t want to stand. And the bus would get here eventually, wouldn’t it?

The man’s gaze left her and settled on a spot directly above him. “What?” he muttered to apparently no one. “It’s not like  _ you _ were really sitting there, huh?” And he cackled. 

Oh, great. And he was crazy, too.

Sadie decided her best option was to ignore him and hope he lost interest in her. She stared hard at her Latin textbook, dug out her pen and tried diagramming one of the sample sentences. Fuck, she hated Latin. None of it made any sense! She wished she’d chosen French or something useful like that for her language requirement, but it was too late now. She’d missed the drop deadline and now she was stuck learning this ridiculous dead language.

She must have let out a frustrated sigh, because she was suddenly aware of that gaze on her again. Then the man was leaning forward and staring at her textbook too. She froze, a little terrified, wondering how the hell she got herself into these situations.

One (slightly trembling) hand, the nails covered in chipped black polish, reached out, and pointed at one of the words in the sample sentence,  _ Nauta in patria poenas reginae timet. _ “The trick is to start with the verb,” he said. “ _ Timet _ . What’s that mean?”

Sadie blinked a few times, unsure of what to do. “To fear,” she said finally. “I mean, he or she or it fears.”

“Good,” he said. “What’s the subject, then?”

She licked her lips. “ _Reginae_?”

“Can’t be,” he said. “Because it’s either nominative plural, genitive singular, or dative singular. The subject can’t be plural because the verb is singular.”

She stared at the sentence again. “ _Nauta_?”

“Right. Now what’s the direct object? It should be accusative, singular or plural.”

“ _Poenas_?” He nodded, and she went on, encouraged, “The sailor fears the punishment of the queen … in his homeland, or something like that?”

“Seems right to me.”

She looked at him now, really looked at him. The green eyes were intelligent, if slightly glazed. “Thanks,” she said, wondering who on earth this guy even was.

“My pleasure,” he said, “at least somebody’s getting some use out of all the shit dear old papa forced me to learn.” 

Her brow furrowed, but before she could say anything more, the man pointed towards the street. “I think your bus is here.”

“Oh,” she said, standing up and cramming her book into her backpack. “Um. Have a good day.”

He waved one hand at her, fingers wiggling; on the palm the word “Goodbye” was tattooed. Then he pulled his legs up on the seat, wrapped his smelly coat around them, and closed his eyes.

When she got settled on the bus, she took out her textbook again, and opened it to the assignment again. Then she took out her pen and began slowly diagramming and translating the other sentences, starting with the verbs first.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I had this idea awhile ago about Klaus actually being extremely well educated and smart but he just hides it most of the time and everyone thinks he doesn't know shit. I might write a few other little stories in a similar vein someday but this one came the most easily (except for when I realized that I was going to have to remember how Latin worked to write it lollll).
> 
> This was mainly inspired by the scene in Vanya's memories where we see lil Ben and Klaus standing in Klaus' childhood bedroom. There is a book on Klaus' desk which looks almost like it could be Moreland and Fleischer's "Latin: An Intensive Course" (which is also the textbook in this story, and that is one of the real exercises from it). I can't tell for certain but it just gave me the idea that Reginald made Klaus learn a lot of languages to complement his power, including Latin, because why the fuck not.
> 
> [Follow me on tumblr.](http://temporal-infidelity.tumblr.com)


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